US professor names newly-discovered beetle species after GoT dragons
HBO's Game of Thrones has swept the globe like wildlife, and its growing popularity doesn't seem to be slowing down. In fact, as a result of the pop culture, a US-based entomologist has named three of his eight newest beetle discoveries after the dragons from the series, which is based on the book A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin.
The beetles are named as 'drogoni', 'rhaegali', 'viserioni'
Brett Ratcliffe, a professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who is a fan of the series, named his new beetle discoveries- drogoni, rhaegali, and viserioni. The names are the Latinized version of Drogon, Rharegal, and Viserion, the dragons owned by Daenerys Targeryan in GoT. Drogoni and viserioni can be found in Ecuador and Columbia, while rhaegali is the French Guiana. All three have orange features.
'I've often thought that scientists take themselves too seriously'
Ratcliffe says he named them after dragons for public attention
Ratcliffe explained that he basically chose the names to shed a light on biodiversity and the amount of undiscovered species. "When you create names like these, you do it to gain a little bit of notoriety and bring public attention to it," he said. He added that one of four living things on earth is a beetle and they haven't discovered them all.
Ratcliffe said creating new names becomes difficult with time
Ratcliffe said he has named over hundreds of species in his 50-year long career and creating new names becomes difficult. Naming rules recommend against using humor or insults, and it's particularly useful to avoid duplicate names, the professor said. He added he opted for pop culture names to have fun, as "scientists take themselves too seriously, and this is a way to circumvent that."
